What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder — The National Championship Edition

I know that when you talk to these players, they view Ryan Day as more than just a coach, which is exactly what a fan base should want from their head coach. Yeah, winning is the main thing, but there are many different ways to win. (Some programs win mired in NCAA turmoil, for instance.) Day’s players have defended him every step of the way since that meeting. They all spoke their mind. They had the kind of conversations that happen when the wounds are wide open. There’s no hiding the pain or emotion any longer, and so they all welcomed it. And it all came out. Nothing was left unsaid. Just as importantly, nothing was left unheard. Ryan Day pushed back initially, but then he listened. And if his team didn’t believe in him, they wouldn’t have stuck together like they did and they wouldn’t have made this kind of run.

I think it’s amazing that you have so many seniors who came back this year to win a national championship and now – to a man – they’ll tell you that they also want to win this for Ryan Day. They came back for themselves and for each other, and one of the main reasons they stuck together was because of their head coach.

I wonder how many people remember that Cody Simon was the Buckeyes’ starting middle linebacker for a large portion of 2021 season. You want to talk about patience and taking ownership of every role a player was given, just look at Cody. He was starting as a second-year player at The Ohio State, then took a back seat to Tommy Eichenberg in 2022. Eichenberg came back in 2023, and so did Simon. He worked himself into a significant role and started five games last year. This year he was wearing the Block O jersey. There are so many great examples of patience paying off on this team, win or lose tomorrow night.

I know that despite missing the last six games of the season, Seth McLaughlin’s fingerprints are still all over this offensive line. He was instrumental in getting this group through the loss of Josh Simmons. He was a calming influence – though his way to calm the team was by telling them, “Who cares?” Essentially telling them, “Yeah, Jimmy went down, but nobody’s gonna care, so we can’t care either.” It’s a “still gotta go to work on Monday regardless” mentality. They picked themselves up and went back to work. He was also one of those voices in that team meeting — and he was heard.

I think Ohio State’s season-long approach towards limiting exposures in games and how Mickey Marotti has approached a 16-game season for the past 12 months is going to be studied by a lot of the major college football programs. The Buckeyes are as fresh as you could expect after 15 games. It’s okay to give Marotti and his staff some credit.

I wonder if Jeremiah Smith is ready to get back on the horse. I bet he is.

If you would like to read the rest of this extended edition of What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder, you can click here. You will need to be a premium subscriber. Your can sign up now for just $4.99 for your first month. Additional topics include more on Ryan Day, the team meeting after the Michigan loss, the ownership of that loss, the calm after the storm, the way this team feels about their head coach, the impact of the veterans, the role of the young players, the importance of landing the right transfers, the value of patience, and much, much more.

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